State Trivia Drabbles
by Lizard Pie
Summary: A series of 100 word challenges based on US state facts.  OC's used.
1. Alabama

Fact: Despite the fact that South Carolina was the first to secede, Alabama is considered the birthplace of the Confederacy.

* * *

><p>There'd been a shockwave out of South Carolina which rippled through the rest of the country and settled deep in Alabama. Even if they weren't quite sure why, the states were at attention.<p>

He watched it grow from nothing, and look at him with determined grey eyes. It was young, and too weak to fend off the Yankees who'd surely arrive any day now to hunt it down.

Alabama kept it hidden within wide plantations surrounded by cotton fields while the necessary muscle developed. He'd continue to until it could lead, and be followed, as they'd always dreamed it would.


	2. Alaska

Fact: The belief in "Seward's Folly" fell along party lines, as opposed to the rumor that it was a nation-wide sentiment.

* * *

><p>These new people were confusing. They came with thick accents, and attitudes which were either very welcoming or declaring him to be an enormous mistake. He hadn't meant to start them fighting. Especially since hid heard they'd done quite a bit of that lately.<p>

Mr. Russia had distanced himself from Alaska to avoid the sorts of violent people who lived around here. He'd sold him for next to nothing to one of the more dangerous ones.

Alaska had to wonder what had been brought into his house. Maybe it was for the best these new siblings didn't come by often.


	3. Arizona

Fact: For a short, disastrous, period Arizona attempted to use camels in building its territory.

* * *

><p>It'd been a perfect plan, she'd thought as she read about exotic places. The climate was close, so a pack animal like a camel would thrive. She bet it'd even bring in tourist money from the others who wished they'd come up with such a brilliant plan.<p>

She'd grinned as she watched them amble off the boats, their features just as exaggerated as the pictures had said.

Nobody'd said they were mean, though. They came with fangs and bone-breaking kicks.

It was almost a shame to have to hunt them down, but she considered it retribution for her new scars.


	4. Arkansas

Fact: Arkansas has the only diamond mine in the world open to the public.

* * *

><p>They glistened within the mountain. They were yellow in the light of his helmet and, hopefully, also yellow when he made it back into the sun. Clear was wonderful, of course, but yellow retailed so much better if only for the exotic feel of it.<p>

He sold them, but not in self-sustaining frequency. Despite the wars, they wanted diamonds from Africa. Despite the perils in getting there, they wanted diamonds from Canada.

Wealth like this, though, needed to be shared. He opened his doors to the tourists who came to him, and let them sink their hands into the rock.


	5. California

Fact: California was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana.

* * *

><p>Being ahead of her time was exhausting, particularly when she had siblings at her heels who very much wanted to take her titles away from her. There was so much jealousy around from states that had negligible GDP's.<p>

Dad was getting upset with her for calling them poor and not smiling, but, really, what was she supposed to do? None of those others understood exactly what it took to handle actual industry and trade.

She lit up her newly prescribed medicine, and the stress fell away.

Dad wasn't happy about her choice of treatment, but for once he could deal.


	6. Colorado

Fact: Colorado holds an annual headless chicken festival.

* * *

><p>He stood in line, with his siblings, and slipped a quarter into the slot. They wrestled to the front of the growing crowd to watch Mike preen himself and peck at the ground with a head he didn't seem to realize was missing. That it was sweltering and reeked of BO and animals was forgotten.<p>

Over the years, his family moved away from the tent. They shunned the people and animals they'd once flocked to in droves, and doubly so anyone who'd admit they'd bought a ticket.

Colorado held a festival to remind them of who they used to be.


	7. Connecticut

Fact: New Haven issued the first phone directory. It was 50 names long, and only took up 1 page.

* * *

><p>Everybody who'd had the will and money to embrace this new technology was documented, neatly, on the page. He'd spent hours on it, fretting over everything from the font to the kind of card stock, but it'd all paid off.<p>

He'd ended up with a model that the rest of the world examined very closely. Some of them were already thinking of copying it; however, they'd probably need a few years before it could be put on a grander scale.

Connecticut grinned at his work. He was finally a trend-setter, like his siblings, and nobody would call him boring again.


	8. Delaware

Fact: Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution.

* * *

><p>The air smelled so different, now that it was their own. It was almost depressing to know that, someday, he'd grow used to it. That would be much later, though.<p>

For now, he was a state in a union which was bound together in the loosest sense of the word. They were joined by blood and ideals, but hardly by loyalty. They fought a lot more than a new nation should have, and these battles threatened to tear them apart.

For all the arguing, he knew they were one. He signed first on their unity, knowing they'd eventually believe, too.


	9. Florida

Fact: The first ATM for roller bladers was installed in Miami.

* * *

><p>He'd gotten tired of being chased out of buildings by owners interested in a million things other than his particular business. No matter what he was looking to get, they were convinced he was going to smash things (which only happened some of the time). They'd even banned him from getting the money to pay more agreeable shopkeepers.<p>

He created a ramp, a neon-pink 'fuck you' to all of them. If they wouldn't take his business, he'd just move it someplace else. He hoped his siblings would follow his lead, but they were probably too scared to be that brilliant.


	10. Georgia

Fact: Georgia has passed a bill to declare itself 'Poultry Capital of the World'.

* * *

><p>His bosses had been stopping by, lately, and looking scornfully at the chickens which strut about his backyard. They reminded him, harshly, that they'd told him livestock wasn't allowed outside of farms. He smiled, and told them he remembered and didn't care much about it.<p>

Poultry was everything, and his agriculture was built on their backs. He honored their commitment with statues, parks, festivals… He wouldn't even let people put a fork and knife to them. They needed to be finger-deep, or they were being disrespectful.

The least he could do was let them have some space in his yard.


	11. Hawaii

Fact: Hawaii is the most isolated population center on Earth.

* * *

><p>Her family came by irregularly, and when they did it was only for a vacation. They would stop by her house on the rare moment between one tour and another, between meals and long swimming breaks in the roadside turquoise water.<p>

Foreigners were the same way, and most nights she and her people slept alone while the hotels were lit up like Christmas trees. Being so far away, the last thing she ever wanted to see was those lights to go out.

She plastered them with images and messages to remind them that she was still there, waiting for them.


	12. Idaho

Fact: The land belonging to the state has seen the birth, near extinction, and revitalization of the Appaloosa.

* * *

><p>Back in the day, they'd had scraggly tails. They had sleepy eyes and hanging heads, but there was fight in them which couldn't be extinguished. The spotted coat that the Americans would pay… what was it? 40 times for?<p>

That was occasional. Incidental.

Years later, he tried to revive them and lost the sort of wild thing they had been. They'd become too refined, too built to be cared for in a pasture to handle conditions their bloodlines had.

He groaned over a full tail, and wondered why he'd shot so many when they were captured. This would take forever.


	13. Illinois

Fact: In a raid during the Mexican-American War, the 4th Illinois Infantry captured both of Santa Anna's wooden legs.

* * *

><p>Was Texas even a state yet? She'd been so busy building up her new territory that she could hardly follow the doings of an increasing number of "siblings". Sometimes she forgot their names, even, though dad would be furious if he heard.<p>

If Texas wasn't, since he was insisting on everyone referring to him as a nation, it wasn't worth much to demand immediate repayment. She'd heard he'd joined up because of money troubles or something.

She used her new war trophy as a bat, in a quick game over the march back. She'd be sure to be paid later.


	14. Indiana

Fact: The centennial of the Indy 500 was on May 30th.

* * *

><p>The cars were marvels of engineering, and glistened in the summer sun. He wiped away the sweat coming from beneath his bowler, not wanting to miss a second because his eyes stung.<p>

These men whipped around the track. They were just seconds away from certain death, and yet they ignored it in lieu of strategy.

Within the roar of the crowd, and managing break-neck speed like 75 mph, would be too much for an average man to think of much else.

He'd scoff at that speed as he drove to the track years later. The irony was all but lost.


	15. Iowa

Fact: Iowa is the 3rd largest producer of food in the US, behind Texas and California.

* * *

><p>It wasn't really <em>in<em> him to stand out to much. He left that to his pushier siblings who were more adept at taking the cut-throat business roll than he was. They seemed to enjoy that sort of thing; he may as well let them have it.

He preferred his crops and animals, who didn't require anywhere near that amount of backstabbing and public speaking. He had tried and true methods, highlighted with splashes of technology, and that was all they needed from him.

And, if he were able to make a place for himself that way… That was nice, too.


	16. Kansas

Fact: In its early days, Kansas was hit by a grasshopper plague.

* * *

><p>They came in hoards, after floods and droughts. They ate the wool off her sheep, the clothes off her back, and jammed up her train wheels with slippery bodies.<p>

They devoured her precious few crops while the first bites of winter were rolling in. It was an attempt to kill her off and, if they kept eating, they might be successful.

She piled and ignited them, didn't pause as they made their way into the cement she used to put up buildings. If they were going to keep coming after her, she'd do what she needed to make them regretful.


	17. Kentucky

Fact: Cumberland Falls is the western hemisphere's only predictable moon bow.

* * *

><p>Consistency was the most important thing. It worked with crops, horses, and manufacturing. It was, also, definitely a mandate with tourists. She couldn't imagine the sorts of opportunities you'd lose out on if you lured travelers to your place, promising they'd see something, only to admit it was only a possibility.<p>

Developed film showed them wonders that bare eyes never could. Even with winter biting at any exposed flesh, nobody paid it any mind in the wake of their wonderment.

She smiled, and plucked some absentminded bluegrass from her banjo to accompany them. They'd definitely be back, as scheduled.


	18. Louisiana

Fact: The pelican was chosen as the state bird because of its altruistic determination.

* * *

><p>Her people came from Canada, in a desperate bid to flee from British oppression. They came from Haiti, to break free from the chains of slavery. They sailed from France and Spain when they fell into war and poverty.<p>

She welcomed them in with open arms, as their final refuge from the outside world.

Louisiana watched the mother pelican tear into its own flesh when the other option was to let its offspring starve. She vowed that, if her people needed her, she'd do the same.

It was just a matter of deciding where to cut to save the whole.


	19. Maine

Fact: Maine has the longest-running veteran's hospital in the states.

* * *

><p>It started as a resort, back when things like that were still profitable. When war hit and, as things like that so often do, it killed the joy which had been there. She turned it into a sanctuary for the dead, the dying, and those lucky enough to survive.<p>

She hadn't thought she'd be doing this as long as she had been, much less in this same building she'd used for over a century. It had a charm and memory, though, and it was willing to fight alongside her as long as she needed.

That was the most important thing.


	20. Maryland

Fact: Maryland had given up land to form the capital, and now refuses to take it back.

* * *

><p>Congress had come to her, optimistically, and asked for land to build the sort of city a nation could be proud to be run by. She'd believed in their vision, and given it up relatively willingly. And now…?<p>

DC tried to tell her that taking him back was for the greater good. After all, he said, weren't they founded on the idea that taxation without representation was wrong? The sort of budget she'd need to defend him, and the resulting pressure put upon her by her siblings, was very much secondary to that.

She, politely as possible, sidestepped the question.


	21. Massachusetts

Fact: The research leading to, and the eventual creation of, a birth control pill came from Massachusetts universities.

* * *

><p>When you grow up in a hyper-religious environment, you either ended up obedient or impertinent. There really was no in between. He was back to his old rebellious ways, which was fine by him. He was always so much happier when he had a cause to fight for.<p>

Under the encouragement of suffragists, and the supervision of men who couldn't be recognized for their research, he injected rabbits with hormones. He spread his research around like-minded states while the people he used to rally with fought against them.

A new revolution was coming, and he was again at its head.


	22. Michigan

Fact: Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline in the world.

* * *

><p>He'd gotten this land through an agreement that he'd totally planned, regardless of how the other states swore he'd reacted. He'd ended up with resources, with tourism, and a coastline that stretched past the horizon. His own private vacation spot away from the rising unemployment, climbing debt, and…<p>

None of that mattered for a moment, if he had a fast-enough boat and clear-enough weather to really see what it was capable of.

Ohio was jealous, even if he'd admit he'd originally been so confident that she'd won. He saw her watching him sometimes, and that made this all the better.


	23. Minnesota

Fact: Roller blades were invented for practicing hockey in the off-season.

* * *

><p>The ice wasn't gone for more than a few months, but it was by far long enough for muscles to fall and skills to be forgotten. In a sport where it was routine (and disappointing not) to lose teeth, that was just shy of a death sentence. It wasn't safe, but more than that it was boring as hell to watch weak-kneed men battle each other as they tried to relearn the feel of ice beneath their blades.<p>

He hummed, and affixed wheels to his blades. His neighbors would be in for a hell of a surprise, come the season.


	24. Mississippi

Fact: Women who decorated graves in Friendship Cemetery are considered fore-bearers to Memorial Day.

* * *

><p>Her siblings, and those who wanted very much to become her siblings, were all bleeding. Medicines being as thin as they were, lately, treatments of whiskey and saws were hardly keeping things at bay.<p>

This whole affair had dragged on much too long, and even with it being 'finished' everyone was still tense. The union looked at them like criminals; the confederacy looked at each other as traitors and the north as if they were sending Sherman back.

She draped all of their graves, union or confederate, in flowers to let them know that their sacrifice hadn't been in vain.


	25. Missouri

Fact: Missouri had a private Civil War between a Confederate and Union government.

* * *

><p>His friends were down south, and they'd reserved a star on their flag for him. It was flattering, to have that kind of loyalty even though he hadn't been able to secede quite yet.<p>

Despite his want, he knew that he simply couldn't leave. Too many bills had passed, and there was too much conflict from his neighbors.

Illinois had taken to eating her lunch on his border. She waved to him with a wide smile, more to motion to the huge army she'd amassed than to be friendly.

He waved nervously, and went back to sorting out his loyalty.


	26. Montana

Fact: The human population is not only outnumbered by cattle, but by large game like elk, moose, and bears.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how the others dealt with a lack of land. He couldn't imagine being strangled by never-ending cities and houses.<p>

He'd left vast fields of cattle to line an elk in his scope. Not a trophy buck, but it would more than do to hold him over. Lf it didn't, there were moose and antelope not too far from here. Grizzlies, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to push that hard now. Not when it was him and a buck which was steadily looking better to him.

It was his, and no city could ever replace that.


	27. Nebraska

Fact: The nation's largest naval ammunition plant is in Hastings.

* * *

><p>She'd never seen blue water outside of pictures. Hastings had a lake, but it never managed the brightness that the ocean seemed to have. Given the sorts of stories she'd heard about what a lot of water could do, she wasn't really sure that she wanted to go that far.<p>

People on the ocean, and overseas, needed her to keep working. Tucked deep into the heartland, she could supply their only hope of getting back off the water in this war and every one after.

As long as she didn't have to see it used, she was fine with that.


	28. Nevada

Fact: Las Vegas performs an average of 230 weddings every day.

* * *

><p>There were lines out the door of his chapel, but they grew longer after dark. Stumbling, giggling drunks and young girls in late pregnancy mixed in with people who just wanted to avoid all the pompous circumstance surrounding a traditional wedding.<p>

He'd seen thousands of them, he'd see thousands more before he was through, and he'd seen people cry for every reason imaginable and many which weren't. He didn't put much thought into it. He was a master of breaking people down. It cost too much to question it.

He just collected his earnings and moved onto the next couple.


	29. New Hampshire

Fact: New Hampshire representatives were the first to vote for the Declaration of Independence.

* * *

><p>This was the moment they'd been building up to their entire lives, even if they'd only realized it recently. It was time for them to move past what they'd been as a colony, and join the ranks of the countries who frequented their shores.<p>

This was their chance to decide for themselves everything they'd handed to a king who'd never even stepped on their shores. His siblings were hesitant to leave the protection that they'd enjoyed.

He mocked them for wanting to stay coddled, and decisively cast his vote. For better or for worse, it was time to grow up.


	30. New Jersey

Fact: With 90% of its residents living in urban areas, New Jersey is the most metropolitanized state.

* * *

><p>He stared down into the twisted maze of buildings, licked by the ocean and occasional bits of green. Everything sat at his fingertips, even the siblings who teased him.<p>

His time on farms had been paved over and built upon so many times that he could have read it somewhere. It was a memory belonging to someone he met on a subway, and discarded as soon as he reached his stop.

There were other ways to live, he knew. But he breathed steel and glass, and refused to accept that anything could fill him with the same sort of exhilaration.


	31. New Mexico

Fact: The atomic bomb was first tested in Jornada del Muerto.

* * *

><p>He stood with scientists that everyone but the top government agents would swear were working on nothing. Behind thick sheets of metal and glass, they watched the ender of wars. Perhaps of worlds, but that was hypothetical.<p>

They watched a mushroom rise up over the desert. Miles upon miles away, people were oblivious. They knew there was a war on; they also knew it would have to end at some point.

It was probably best people didn't have to know what it was going to take.

Maybe they were wrong, but he'd wait for hindsight. He had hands to shake.


	32. New York

Fact: The first pizza shop in the US was opened in New York.

* * *

><p>He prided himself in trend setting; not so much because it was fun, but because it was his duty as the most awesome of the states.<p>

He'd done it first and best, his crust rolled out thin and his cheese freshly shredded. He smirked at the imitations (butcheries) of what he'd started. He thrilled as, even with their renditions, they still came back to what he did time and again. They could declare they'd won this taste test or that contest, but they still knew he'd done it better.

He'd just sit back and wait for them to acknowledge that.


	33. North Carolina

Fact: North Carolina threatened military action in a border war as late as 1971.

* * *

><p>She'd seen enough war to know that there were no handouts. You either got yours, aligned with someone who could, or you would be run over.<p>

Georgia'd forgotten what it took, over the years of living docilely. He thought he could pass quiet legislation, take land that had been illegally given to him (even if it had been as punishment) after she hadn't given up her rights.

She smiled sweetly and pointed a gun at him. She said, with all the southern charm she had, that it was hers.

If she needed to, she'd protect it.


	34. North Dakota

Fact: The state has tossed around the idea of dropping the 'North' from its name several times for image purposes.

* * *

><p>He wasn't his brother, even if other states (mostly coastal ones) had a hard time seeing that. He wasn't frigid and inhospitable, either, but it was an uphill battle to convince any tourists with real money of that. The avoided him for a million other places, even ones with the same sort of environment.<p>

He threw around the sort of business ideas that he'd seen work for people around him, that something as simple as a word could redefine everything that people thought of him.

He rejected it, multiple times, knowing that'd they'd never fall for a trick that simple.


	35. Ohio

Fact: Considered the birthplace of aviation, Ohio has birthed the Wright brothers and 24 astronauts (second only to New York).

* * *

><p>The sky was hers. There were few things in life that she could be sure of (other than that Michigan was an ass, obviously), but she knew that she was right on this one.<p>

She raised her people to gaze upwards and take in the possibilities. She told them about how she'd first felt the wind whipping through her hair and the Earth spinning in its orbit. She told them how it felt to take those first, hesitant, steps on the moon.

Every time she told it, she had to dismiss mention of the other states who'd stolen her thunder.


	36. Oklahoma

Fact: Oklahoma has had an annual invasion of Texas since 1931.

* * *

><p>This had started over a bridge. Or, rather, two bridges. It would have been nice to say that it was something epically important, but things rarely were.<p>

The point was that Texas was arrogant, and deserved to be put back in his place periodically. Nobody was willing to do it, so he stepped up to the plate.

He grinned to the players around him as they headed across the river in the dead of night. What they'd do tonight would go down in history, even if only within these two states.

Viva le resistance, just subtract all that French crap.


	37. Oregon

Fact: The Seaside Aquarium was the first to successfully breed harbor seals.

* * *

><p>He was almost afraid to touch them, like they'd fall apart in his hands. All he'd probably get was a nasty bite from the mother. He didn't want to jinx this, though, not when he was the first one in the world to get it right.<p>

The pups were fat things which rolled and dragged about. They'd grow into adults which would flop forward in rolling layers of blubber. They'd splash and dart about the world he provide.

He couldn't wait to see what he'd done look at him with big doe eyes, and bark incessantly for fish.


	38. Pennsylvania

Fact: Centralia's residents are in a battle to retain a town abandoned due to an underground coal fire.

* * *

><p>It was still burning, and it would be for what looked like centuries; however, people were still there despite his best efforts. The population had dropped to single-digits, had aged and grown more stubborn with each passing year at risk from the inferno below their feet.<p>

He paid for homes he meant to tear down, and faced surprise that they had to leave. They taunted him with notes, saying their dwindling economy was still strong and he should leave them alone.

The last thing he wanted was to bring bulldozers to over-grown streets, but they were leaving him little choice.


	39. Rhode Island

Fact: Rhode Island was the last colony to become a state.

* * *

><p>They managed to win their independence due to disinterest more than skill. That was humiliating, and he figured it didn't bode well for the future of this 'country'.<p>

Through the grumbling and out-right screaming matches, they encouraged him to sign onto what he'd been vocally considering a sinking ship. They told him to ignore that, everything was still young. He would concede that, if only to himself. They needed more time than anybody was willing to give.

He'd sign on only when he was good and ready, and that'd definitely be after everybody else had joined in. It was principle.


	40. South Carolina

Fact: Congressman James L. Petigru declared the state "too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum" prior to the secession.

* * *

><p>They'd called him unstable and, when he'd reacted, told him that perhaps he wasn't thinking things through. They voiced their objections to his plans with softening voices.<p>

He needed the union, they said, because he wasn't strong enough to stand on his own (nor could he fight off the encroaching army alone). He either needed allies or to get back into litigation because damned if the more powerful states weren't getting angry. As if he wasn't well aware of that.

He rid himself of the people who urged him to have a rest. That was the last thing he needed.


	41. South Dakota

Fact: The projected completion date of the highly-debated Crazy Horse Memorial ranges from 3-4 years to decades from now.

* * *

><p>It was honorific, he'd insisted to a lot of people who weren't interested in listening. But, then, he wasn't either. He'd been working on this thing for decades with no real end in sight, and didn't need protestors at his feet arguing about this.<p>

People considered it an insult or something like that. Where it was located, how it looked, how _long_ it was taking…

He had explosives to rig up, and he tuned out all the chanting and petitioning. One false move, and over 60 years of work would be destroyed.

He wouldn't allow anyone to make that happen.


	42. Tennessee

Fact: Tennessee was the last to secede, and the first state to rejoin the Union.

* * *

><p>He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do in this whole thing, and that wasn't good enough for anyone. His siblings raged about his indecisiveness, and even when he made a hesitant decision.<p>

They were in his house every day, the Union struggling to get to Georgia who'd sent an incredible amount of troops to Tennessee to keep them out. Only Virginia was seeing more death, but she was a Confederate attack dog, so that didn't count.

He was quickly starting to think he'd been too hasty in picking a side. Was it too late to change his mind…?


	43. Texas

Fact: Texas is the only state acquired by treaty, rather than war or purchase.

* * *

><p>He came to them in a desperate attempt to avoid an attack, though he played it off as a gift. He stood before the states, skeletal and gored from his fight for independence with Mexico, with a broad grin. He looked on them with confidence as if he were just as powerful as all the nations who'd flown their flags over his home.<p>

Impoverished but shrewd, he refused to let them forget he was a nation and would be addressed as one. Every day, he hoisted his flag as high as the United States', and dared someone to challenge it.


	44. Utah

Fact: Utah is the porn capital of the states, with the highest percentage of online subscriptions.

* * *

><p>Her boss would kill her if he knew. She wasn't supposed to be sneaking around like this, but that just seemed to make it more fun. That was a bad attitude, and she'd have to do a lot to make up for it.<p>

If that was even possible, the sermon she'd heard that morning said it might not be.

Still, she snuck to her office later that night, bathed in the glow of the screen and freedom from the rigors of her daily modesty. She just wouldn't tell anybody. With the glances she received, though, they might already know something…


	45. Vermont

Fact:Montpelier rejected a chain restaurant moving in on the basis of too much added traffic.

* * *

><p>For the millionth time, she checked her phone and found it full of messages from her Dad. He told her how this independent streak wasn't going to get her very far with the rest of her siblings. There'd been attempts to fight it before, but they'd all failed eventually.<p>

That, and evidently Illinois had thrown together some new options that she was more than eager to share.

Vermont thanked him sincerely and declined.

The absolute last thing she needed was the added traffic messing up her commute. So, even if she wanted it closer, she'd just leave town for McDonald's.


	46. Virginia

Fact: Because of a high concentration of companies, northern Virginia has been dubbed 'Internet Capital of the World'.

* * *

><p>She'd come miles from the girl who'd bound her breasts to sneak into the cavalry, and the girl who'd been skeptical about the factories springing up further north.<p>

She'd recreated herself a million times over, this was just one more.

Her place in the world, and among her siblings, was now written in microchips and optical fiber. After decades of being a follower to the industries she'd been too nervous to build, it was nice to be back in the leading role she'd loved all those years ago.

It felt proper to her. She was sure they felt it, too.


	47. Washington

Fact: The state changed its name from 'Columbia' to 'Washington' to avoid being confused with the District of Columbia... which is now commonly referred to as Washington.

* * *

><p>It was all that district's fault. He put himself in the middle of things, and then feigned surprise when all the states around him did nothing but pay attention. He used it to levy his demands for statehood, even if the others gave those proposals just as little attention as ever.<p>

She wanted as little to do with him as the others, and changed her long-held name to distance herself. But then he decided to change his title again and she was forced to add 'state' to herself like she was some university.

Someday, she'd get him back for this.


	48. West Virginia

Fact: Thanks to its decision to split and join the Union, West Virginia kept its slaves legal almost 2 years longer than Virginia.

* * *

><p>The whole thing was Virginia's fault for being stubborn. The revolution was just an excuse to leave, as a lot of things were, when her sister's natural tendencies became unbearable.<p>

The others had tried to persuade her to reconsider; it was bad precedent to split. When she wouldn't, they pressed her into decisions she wasn't ready for. They agreed to let her move at the sort of snail's pace she needed, but she didn't like being told what to do.

And now her loophole was gone, and the cushion along with it.

This, also, had to be Virginia's fault somehow.


	49. Wisconsin

Fact: The world's first hydroelectric plant was along the Fox River.

* * *

><p>People threw around theories like they were weightless whenever there were new possibilities. They'd found a way to heat and light their homes, and the potential to spread this across the country had everyone salivating. He couldn't say he was immune.<p>

He looked at the quick flow of the Fox River, the same waters which had supported everyone who'd come before him in this territory. They'd only been interested in the fishing and trade, but times had changed.

It was only a theory. But, still, he grinned at the opportunity to calling on its power to support him, as well.


	50. Wyoming

Fact: Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote.

* * *

><p>The other states had come to him in wonderment, and gawked with the same sort of privileged curiosity they used for tribesmen. Women rode astride horses in his house. They raised cattle and ran businesses, but that was relatively normal for a western territory.<p>

It was that they were voting which had all the other states interested, with reactions ranging from curious to livid. They told him it was improper and dangerous. If he wanted any chance at becoming a state, he'd repeal that decision immediately.

Wyoming shrugged, and replied that maybe there were better options for him than statehood.


	51. Bonus: Washington DC

Fact: The citizens of Washington DC were granted the right to vote 171 years after the city was founded.

* * *

><p>This was a foot in the door. Even if it felt like a toe, and not even a large toe when compared to what he really wanted, this was definitely progress.<p>

With the sort of pride and anticipation he's always hoped he'd feel, DC wade his way behind the curtain to cast his vote.

He smiled, as he poked holes in a piece of paper his siblings had always taken for granted. If he was going to be blamed for the work of people he had little to do with, it was amazing to finally be able to choose one.


End file.
